Globaliser

It certainly is true - here's FR's website page - and it certainly is ironic. Their maximum size is 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.

travelmad478

Yes, the loss of the "personal item" (which is allowed on US flights) is a challenge. I'm just going to have to stuff my new shoulder bag, which I bought three weeks ago in response to the OLD size restrictions, into my new suitcase, which I bought last night in response to the NEW size restrictions.

Steve Fenton

I flew LH from Man to FRa a couple of weks ago and the size of luggage you can take on board was mail box size and they were enforcing it big style, the security staff at MAN seem to be on mission right now as they are lackig fire power but use their voices instead to humiliate people who dont understand what the rules are. I even had to check in my suit carrier which is ultralight with a very expensive suit inside, luckily it came out all OK at TPE

osamede

Well anyone who would fly Ryanair deserves it. Those guys are so contemptous of their customers, it is not even funny. Its only a matter of time before they come out with a scheme where you buy a ticket and then you incur an additional fee if you actually turn up to fly! Its the only thing left that they dont do!

Spiff

Ryanair is still less contemptuous of its customers than the imbeciles in charge of the TSA and DfT are.

travelmad478

Toting my newly purchased bag, exactly 56 cm x whatever it is, I flew PHL-LHR (BA 66) last night and am sitting in the T1 First lounge now. Security and boarding in PHL was no problem for the BA flight, as usual--by the time these flights leave, the terminal is nearly deserted. I put my bag through the X-ray machine and no one opened it--a completely opposite experience from my PHL-ORD flight from the same terminal earlier in the week, when my tiny overnight bag was practically examined with a microscope. So far so good.

Then we arrived at LHR, where I had to transfer from T4 to T1. From the time we touched down in LHR at 8:20 AM, it took fully 90 minutes before I entered the lounge at T1. (And it was only that quick because for once, we did not have to sit on the aircraft for 45 minutes after landing waiting for a stand and then a bus.) The queue for security at T1--actually, three of them, because we had to line up first at the bottom of the escalators, then at the top of the escalators, and then at the X-ray machines--was absolutely unbelievable. Only at the third and last queue was there a "Fast Track" (and I use that term with great irony) for CW and F passengers.

Meanwhile, the baggage size restriction, as well as the one-bag restriction, appears to have been pretty much thrown out the window. Apparently, I didn't need to buy that new smaller bag, which is mildly infuriating. The guy ahead of me in the X-ray line had a huge, overstuffed bag that looked to measure at least 45 cm in both width and depth, not to mention well longer than 56 cm. His companion had a standard 22" rollaboard plus another bag. There were no checks at all on bag sizing, nor did I see any bags being inspected at all. The lines were so staggering that if anyone had been stopped for a full inspection, it would have caused a riot, I think.

All in all I am somewhat horrified by the continuing mess at LHR, six weeks after the liquids ban came into force. It is astonishing to me that BAA cannot get their act together to speed the transfer process in any way. If my connection time had been less than 2.5 hours, I would have missed my flight. I am seriously reconsidering my plans to connect through LHR for my next trip--even though I have a reasonable layover of 3.5 hours, and don't think I'll miss my flight, the nightmare of endless queues is starting to seem really, really not worth it.

Athena53

Thanks for the warning on LHR. Since our last nightmare when we almost missed a connection (even though our inbound landed on time and we had 2 hours layover), I've vowed never to book a connection through there again. And that was in February before the new insanity. My boss is based in London so I sort of have to fly there once in awhile.

He's coming into the US next week; it will be interesting to hear how his departure went.

travelmad478

On my way back, Thursday and Friday, I will be spending a night in London in between my flight from Warsaw and my flight to PHL--I'll try to remember to report back. I have a feeling that check-in and security coming in from outside will be a lot quicker than the inter-terminal transfer (esp. since the benefits of first-class check-in and the security fast track tend to be much more meaningful at that entrance).

Inter-terminal transfer at LHR has always been aggravating, especially in the last three years or so, but now it is just beyond the pale. The minute I get above 1500 tier points, I'm done with it until BAA figures out how to run things.

Athena53

Agreed. But I'm still glad that even though I'm working on Platinum on AA, I chose CO for our trip to Edinburgh next month just to avoid the dreaded LHR connection (MCI-EWR-EDI instead). Maybe if enough of us do that BAA will get the message.

KathrynInCanada

I flew YYZ/LHR/CPH on Friday/Saturday.

New size restrictions made the flight more comfortable for me (I need lots of stuff to be comfortable on a plane.)

Air Canada would not issue our SAS boarding passes despite checking the bags through to CPH. And there was only 1 hour between flights (which were bought after the latest scares and rules.)

Luckily, there was a concierge at the door of our plane. And we were flying J. She abandoned the celebrity we assume she was greeting, and got us through security. Yes, Security. Despite the fact that we weren't changing terminals, we had to go through security. And the 150 people we cut in front of weren't pleased.

They didn't bat an eye at our bags even though we both had the liquids from the in-flight amenities kit. I did make a show of taking the water bottle out of my bag.

So even if you aren't changing terminals in LHR make sure you have a backup plan because it is a mess and airlines (at least AC) are still acting as if everything is fine.

BTW: Air Canada's email to us inviting us to check in online had incorrect carry-on size information.

Globaliser

The current maximum DfT size is the same as BA's maximum permitted cabin baggage size, anyway (from before the current security kerfuffle). So yes, if you previously had oversized cabin baggage, you would have needed to buy a new one anyway.

The mere fact that you might have got away with something that was over the limit doesn't change that fact.

Globaliser

Of course you did. You were an international arrival, so you were required to go through security screening before any onward flight from LHR.

alanR

Well they don't charge for use of the loo or loo paper - YET - after all not everyone needs to use the loo during a flight so why should people who don't have to subsidise those who do (that was the argument used by Pikeyair to justify charging people for wheelchair use from checkin to gate).

BUT during all this palaver with changing hand luggage restrictions Ryanair have been charging people several GBP for any bags they have to check because of the restrictions even if they'd booked before 10th August (Ryanair charge for checking luggage)

travelmad478

I, along with the rest of the CW universe, had never had any problems flying with a 22" rollaboard as a carry-on in previous years, which was about 3 cm over today's size limit. (And plenty of men fly with huge garment bags which far exceed mine in size.) I also had no problems in the past carrying on both my rollaboard and a handbag, which I now can't do. I have been terrorized by the stories of security disallowing every bag that was a half-centimeter over the line during the last six weeks, so figured I would stick to the letter of what I now understood to be the new law. My mistake.

holidays

Does anybody know if suit bags allowed? I don't want a crease in my new expensive suit!